Around 3:40 p.m. Russell was seen walking down the street less than 500 feet away from where James was murdered, and taken into custody without incident, Conklin said.

Russell is being held in lieu of a $1 million judge-set bond and will be arraigned at the Stamford courthouse Friday.

James, 46, was shot in the back of the head at point-blank range just after 8:30 p.m. last Thursday at the southeast corner of Pacific Street and Woodland Place. About 50 people were in the area, some playing dice or cards on the street, when the execution-style murder took place, police said. At first nobody would admit to seeing the murder, police said, but that changed earlier this week.

Conklin said the motive for the shooting could have been that James may have serviced a drive-up drug customer on the corner and Russell did not like it. Police have also heard that James owed Russell from between $40 to $500 for unknown reasons.

"I'm pretty sure I can speak for the whole family when I say it's a great feeling to be able to put my uncle to rest knowing that the young man who killed him is behind bars. My uncle can truly rest peacefully," James' niece Asia said in an emailed statement Thursday evening.

Russell's defense attorney Christopher Budjud said about an hour after the arrest that he could not comment on the allegations at this point. "I haven't read anything. I haven't seen the warrant. I will be there tomorrow morning," he said.

Russell is no stranger to police. Back in May 2012, Russell was convicted of carrying a pistol without a permit, after firing several shots at a group of people outside a cluster of homes on Henry Street. At the time of the 2012 incident, witnesses told police they saw Russell, who was then 18 years old, fire a revolver at least five times at people standing near a car parked on Henry Street. Two of the bullets struck a house and came within 10 feet of two children, who were 2 and 4 years old.

Russell admitted to police in 2012 that he had fired the handgun to protect himself, after having a problem with a group of men the night before.

Originally charged with two counts of risk of injury to a minor, three counts of first-degree reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a weapon, illegal discharge of a firearm and illegally carrying a pistol without a permit in 2012, Russell was only convicted of carrying the pistol; in July of 2012 he was sentenced to three years in jail, with his jail time to be suspended after 18 months.

Court documents show his sentence also included three years of probation.

On July 18, 2013, Russell was released and began probation.

Apparently unable to put together enough evidence to arrest him for James' murder, police arrested Russell on Tuesday and charged him with violating his probation for having dirty urine tests and not attending court ordered treatment programs.

He immediately posted a $25,000 bond and was released.

Conklin said that police obtained a video recording of the murder taken from a surveillance camera in the area. A man fitting the description of Russell is also seen running down Ludlow Street right after the murder.

Eye witnesses also came forward and identified Russell as the shooter, Conklin said.

Conklin said that he would like to give kudos to Sgt. Anthony "Butch" Lupinacci's detective squad for working hard and finding James' alleged killer. Lupinacci also came up with other circumstantial evidence that was enough to get a warrant for Russell's arrest, Conklin said.

"Along with the sergeant's squad, I want to thank the members of the community that came forward. That those people did come forward certainly assisted us with solving this case," Conklin said.